Sand-spreader.



P. F. LOHMILLER.-

SAND SPREADER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18. 1911.

Patented. Nov. 20, 1917.

I ventor.

PETER F. LOI-IMILLER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SAND-SPREADER.

Application filed June 18, 1917.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, PETER F. LOHMILLER, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sand-Spreaders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invent-ion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to rail-sanding appliances for locomotives, trolley cars or other vehicles traveling upon rails, its general objects being to provide a sand outlet which will enable the sand tobe used more economically and more effectively. In supplying sand to the rails to prevent the slipping of the wheels, it has been customary heretofore to use as the outlet for the sand supply pipe a nozzle directed toward the rail when the locomotive is on a straight stretch of track. However, the distance which must necessarily be provided between this nozzle and the point of contact of the adjacent wheel with the rail, and curving of the track causes the nozzle to be directed toward one side or the other of the rail. With the increasing size of drive wheels used on locomotives, the distance referred to has had to be increased accordingly, thus placing the nozzle where a curving of the track is apt to direct the flow of sand too far toward one side of the rail to be effective. Consequently, a large proportion .of the sand used while the locomotive is on a curved stretch of track is wasted. Moreover, if the full head of sand is turned on by the engineer as needed on a curved stretch in order to supply the relatively small amount of sand then reaching the rail, this quantity of sand if continued on a straight rail will bury the rail in sand, thereby causing undue wear and partly. defeatingthe very purpose for which the sand is used. Moreover, while the proportion of sand wasted varies with the straightness or curvature of the rail for which it is intended, the direction in which the sand issues from the outlet remains the same with the nozzle or pipe ends commonly used, so that the engineer can only control the quantity of sand used.

My invention aims to overcome these handicaps by providing a nozzle or outlet for the sand which will enable the engineer to control the lateral spread of the sand, so

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented am. so, iai'i'.

Serial No. 175,289.

as to concentrate the delivery of the sand more or less according to the estimated straightness of the rail; to provide a nozzle which will automatically increase the concentration of the sand as the supply is decreased, and which will automatically spread the sand more and more laterally of the rail with an increase in the rate at which the sand is supplied; and to provide a cheap and simple nozzle or sand outlet which. can readily be attached to the usual sand pipes and which will require no moving parts for effecting the above described adjustment. Illustrative of my invention and as showing further objects of my invention, I am referring in the following specification to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary side view of a rail, a drivewheel and a sand nozzle embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the nozzle and the end ofthe sand pipe, with dotted lines showing the directin of the sand as hereafter explained.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the nozzle of Fig. 2.

Fig. d is a fragmentary end view of another nozzle embodying my invention.

Fig. 5 is a diagram indicating the relation between the spread of the sand and the curvature of rails reached by the sand.

While the nozzle of my invention may be built with substantially equal facility of rubber (either plain or reinforced), malleable iron or other material, it is desirably constructed with an upper collar 1 adapted to. be secured by any suitable means to the end of a sand supply pipe 2, from which pipe the sand enters the nozzle. .Vhilepassing through the nozzle, the sand is divided into two portions by any suitable means, such as the upward bulge 3 on the bottom of the nozzle of Figs. 2 and 3 or the partition web 6 of Fig. 4, thereby causing the two portions into which the sand is divided to diverge laterally of the rail toward which the nozzle as a whole is directed. However, I do not permit the sand to issue direct from the nozzle in these two diverging paths, otherwise it might be entirely wasted on straight stretches of track. Instead, I equip the tip of the nozzle with side portions d contracting the outlet laterally of the nozzle and affording inclined surfaces against which the sand will impinge and from which it will rebound in new direc' tions, and preferably in to deflect the sand back across the central vertical plane of the nozzle. Consequently, the streams of sand emitted from the two lateral portions of the nozzle will tend to cross each other above the rail and at a distance from the mouth of the nozzle varying with the inclination of the sand-deflectingportions 1 and the velocity at which the when the sand is turned full on, and the impact of the light sand streams against each other will cause the bulkof the sand to strike the straight rail. However, if the sand is turned full on, the greater velocity with which it impinges against the deflecting nozzle portions l will cause the deflected sand streams to cross nearer to the nozzle and consequently will di set them toward points at opposite sides ofa straight rail. Hence, such a full on flow 0f sand'will supply sand to a curved rail regardless of whether the curvature is toward the right or toward the left, but will not bury a straight rail as would be the case with the ordinary'type of nozzle or sand outlet now in use.

Indeed, I have found a sand spreader constructed as above described to be substantially equally effective on I straight rail stretches and'on curves, thereby enabling me to secure the desired results with a much smaller amount of sand than was required with the sand pipe outlets heretofore in use, and without the possibility of burying the rails and damaging the drive wheels in case of a full on supply of sand on a straight traclc However, while I have pictured the sand spreader of my invention as attached to an inclined supply pipe and as having its upper portion 1 inclined when in use, I do not wish to be limited to these or other details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed, it being obvious that the same might be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention. So also, while I have only pictured the out Copies of this patent may be obtained for such directions as let end of the sand pipe the spray nozzle of my invention as fitted thereto, it will be understood from the foregoing that my sand sprayer is intended primarily.

for use on locomotives where the sand is fed through the pipe with a head sufficient to impart considerable velocity to it, and where this velocity is customarily accelerated by air pressure underthe control of the engineer operating the locomotive. This velocity and consequent momentum is utilized by me in deflecting the issuingsand along converging paths, the point'of convergence being brought nearer to the nozzle as the engineer admits more air and hence blows the sand through thepipebothin greater (piantity and with higher velocity.

I, claim as my invention:

1. In a rail sander for locomotives, a sand nozzle having a portion formed for dividing the sandsubstantially into two portions directed toward opposite sides of the rail, and

having'a tip formed forredirecting-said portions in paths'intersecting above the rail.

2. A rail sander as per claim 1, in which the sand nozzle portions are so shaped as to cause the intersection of the said-sand paths to vary in distance from the tip of the nozzle inresponse to variations in thepressure at whichsand is fed through the nozzle.

. 3.. A rail sander as per claim l, in which the said. nozzle portions are so shaped as to cause theintersectionof the said sand paths to vary in distance from the tip of thenozzle in response to variations in the rate at which sand is fed through thenozzle.

4:. A rail sander as per-claim 1, in which the said nozzle portions are so shaped as to cause the intersection of the-said san'd paths to decrease in distance, from the tip of the nozzle in response to an increase in the rate at which sand is fedthrough the nozzle;

'5. In a rail sander, a sand nozzle having an inclined outlet, equipped withlateral sides diverging and thereafter converging downwardly, and 1 means within the nozzle for separating the sand into divergent portions within the said diverging sides. r

6. In a rail sander,asand'nozzle having at its tip lateral side portions converging downwardly, and means within the nozzle for directing sand respectively against said side portions. v V v Signed at Chicago, "June 14th, 1917, I

PETER F. LOHMILLER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. V I 

